The present invention relates generally to solar energy techniques. In particular, the present invention provides a method for fabricating integrated concentrator photovoltaic elements molded together within one or more substrate members and a resulting device fabricated from the integrated concentrator photovoltaic elements. More particularly, the present invention provides a method and system for manufacturing photovoltaic cells with lowered costs and increased efficiencies. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to solar panels, commonly termed modules, but it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
As the population of the world increases, industrial expansion has lead to an equally large consumption of energy. Energy often comes from fossil fuels, including coal and oil, hydroelectric plants, nuclear sources, and others. As merely an example, the International Energy Agency projects further increases in oil consumption, with developing nations such as China and India accounting for most of the increase. Almost every element of our daily lives depends, in part, on oil, which is becoming increasingly scarce. As time further progresses, an era of “cheap” and plentiful oil is coming to an end. Accordingly, other and alternative sources of energy have been developed.
Concurrent with oil, we have also relied upon other very useful sources of energy such as hydroelectric, nuclear, and the like to provide our electricity needs. As an example, most of our conventional electricity requirements for home and business use come from turbines run on coal or other forms of fossil fuel, nuclear power generation plants, and hydroelectric plants, as well as other forms of renewable energy. Often times, home and business use of electrical power has been stable and widespread.
Most importantly, much if not all of the useful energy found on the Earth comes from our sun. Generally all common plant life on the Earth achieves life using photosynthesis processes from sun light. Fossil fuels such as oil were also developed from biological materials derived from energy associated with the sun. For human beings including “sun worshipers,” sunlight has been essential. For life on the planet Earth, the sun has been our most important energy source and fuel for modern day solar energy.
Solar energy possesses many characteristics that are very desirable! Solar energy is renewable, clean, abundant, and often widespread. Certain technologies developed often capture solar energy, concentrate it, store it, and convert it into other useful forms of energy.
Solar panels have been developed to convert sunlight into energy. As merely an example, solar thermal panels often convert electromagnetic radiation from the sun into thermal energy for heating homes, running certain industrial processes, or driving high grade turbines to generate electricity. As another example, solar photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into electricity for a variety of applications. Solar panels are generally composed of an array of solar cells, which are interconnected to each other. The cells are often arranged in series and/or parallel groups of cells in series. Accordingly, solar panels have great potential to benefit our nation, security, and human users. They can even diversify our energy requirements and reduce the world's dependence on oil and other potentially detrimental sources of energy.
Although solar panels have been used successful for certain applications, there are still certain limitations. Solar cells are often costly. Depending upon the geographic region, there are often financial subsidies from governmental entities for purchasing solar panels, which often cannot compete with the direct purchase of electricity from public power companies. In addition, availability of solar panels is also somewhat scarce. That is, solar panels are often difficult to find and purchase from limited sources of photovoltaic silicon bearing materials.
Partly to reduce the material requirement for manufacturing photovoltaic cells and partly to increase the efficiencies of energy conversion, the manufacturing process often require physically assembling light concentrator elements onto photovoltaic silicon bearing wafer materials. Such assembly, however, can be costly and difficult to manufacture, especially on a large scale. Due to sensitive manufacturing tolerances, the efficiencies of such silicon panels can often be less low than desired.
From the above, it can seen that a method and system for improving manufacturing processes associated with making lost cost, efficient solar devices is highly desirable.